Special Session of the OCCT Discussion Group: Creative Work Showcase

A special session of the OCCT Discussion Group organised and moderated by students from the MSt in Comparative Literature and Critical Translation programme. The students discussed and shared examples from their own translations, poetry, and other creative projects. The presentations were followed by a Q&A with the audience.

From the Discussion Group convenors, Erin Nickalls and Ola Sidorkiewicz:

On Monday, we held our second special session of the OCCT Discussion Group organised and led by students from the MSt in Comparative Literature and Critical Translation (CLCT).

This term, the presentations centred around the students' creative work: first, Magdalena Gabrysiak discussed the proliferation of sound translations in Poland in recent decades and her own experimentations with setting poetry translations to music. Then, Penelope Ioannou presented her project "I'm Also Tired of Cavafy," which melds translation, poetry, sound and image to explore how Cypriot culture and language politics relate to the Greek canon and standardised language. Lastly, George Rushton spoke about his play On the Existence of Butterflies, which is about two friends who can break themselves down into atoms in order to teleport. George explained the project's engagement with Lucretius' anxiety over transferring metaphors and ideas when translating Epicurean philosophy-reflecting on what happens when we attempt to do the same in modern English, and in a different literary medium. The presentations were followed by a Q&A moderated by MSt CLCT student Julia Moore.

It was great to see what the students have been working on, and how their projects relate to the questions they are discussing as part of the CLCT course. My co-convenor Ola and I would like to thank the students for sharing their work and the audience for contributing to the session.